Unlock
by BlueFeatheredRaven
Summary: "Give me that," Oz said, nodding towards the comb. "Why?" "Because I want to try taming your stupid seaweed head!" Light Oz/Gilbert Fluff


_**Prompt**: Everyone is always teasing Gil about this seaweed hair, the poor thing XD – I'd like something fun/crack/fluffy/whatever with Oz and Gil, Oz playing with Gil's hair ^^ Because I think it would be cute!_

I agree with this anon ^_^ It didn't really turn out this way, but it was fun to write. Sometimes it's nice doing something simple without any plans ^_^

And I added a little Ozbert in here too, because… I wanted to put it in there :) I wish there was a 'Fluff' section, because it's not exactly Romance. Oh well ^_^; I need to work on ending things, though... :S

(Sorry about the title!)

**O-O-O**

**Unlock**

**O-O-O**

"Wow Gil, it really does look like seaweed when it's wet, doesn't it?"

"Shut up…"

"What's with the face? Does it really bother you that much?"

"…"

"Well, if you _really_ want your hair to be straight, then tossing it around like that won't help," Oz pointed out with a small grin, his words instantly stilling Gilbert's hands, which had been furiously towel-drying his damp locks. Stuck inside as a result of the bad weather, the young noble had arrived in his friend's room while searching for something to do, terrifying the man half to death when he burst into the bathroom while he was bathing and telling him there was a huge cat chain in his bedroom. He didn't think Gilbert believed him, no matter how genuine his fear appeared, but it was hard to tell when the man had promptly torn down half the towel rack on top of himself, blushing brightly at being caught completely naked by his master ("Gil~ you're an adult now! You shouldn't be embarrassed by that sort of stuff anymore!").

Gilbert sighed and allowed the towel to fall off his head and hang from his right shoulder, running a finger through his damp hair and making a face at the slick texture, "It doesn't matter, it'll look the same no matter what I try."

"Hmm…" Oz hummed thoughtfully, leaning backwards and placing his hands behind him on his servant's bed, watching as the man moved towards his dresser so that he could pull out another shirt (the one he was wearing was slightly damp as a result of his little panic attack in the bathroom, which had caused water to splash all over the floor). The young Vassalius noble cleared his throat and allowed his head to fall back so that his eyes were focused on the ceiling as Gilbert, with his back still to Oz, unbuttoned his shirt and slipped it off his shoulders. "Have you tried just drying it straight?" he asked.

"Yes," Gilbert said, his voice slightly muffled as he pulled a black shirt on over his head, "It doesn't work."

"Are you sure?"

Gilbert pushed his head out of the neckline of the shirt and shook his head, loosening the still-damp strands of his dark hair from their pressed-down position. "Yes," he said with a nod, reaching up and running his fingers through his hair yet again, watching his reflection in the dresser mirror with an irritated expression, "I think I should just give up."

"Ahh, Gil is so useless!" Oz sighed, swinging his legs and throwing an arm in the air theatrically, before bringing the back of his hand against his forehead in a lazy attempt to look upset, "What am I to do? A useless servant with equally useless hair!"

"What sort of 'use' is hair supposed to have?" Gilbert grumbled, but the young Nightray reached for the comb that had been resting on the dresser regardless. Just as he moved the item to his tangled locks, however, he was halted by the abrupt gesture his master then expressed; the blonde teen had straightened up quickly and thrown his arm out in Gil's direction in one swift movement, a bright smile on his face. When he quirked a questioning eyebrow at the teenager, Oz simply clenched and unclenched his hand several times, still grinning. "What?"

"Give me that," Oz said, nodding towards the comb.

"Why?"

"Because I want to try taming your stupid seaweed head!"

Gilbert blinked, confused. Wait… so… Oz wanted to brush his hair? Wasn't that sort of… weird? He had brushed his master's hair a number of times in order to help him prepare for parties and such, of course, but for some reason the mental image of Oz carefully running the comb through his hair was enough to make his stomach flip with… surprise? Embarrassment? The thought of Oz so close made him a little nervous… He didn't want to think about the reasons why. "Uh… No thanks," he said, grip tightening on the item in his hand is if his master could somehow magic it to him from across the room if he didn't. "I can-"

"Giiiiiil~" Oz sang, once again flexing the fingers of his outstretched hand, the intense stare he fixed upon his servant leaving no room for argument. For a moment Gilbert hesitated, but then Oz simply raised his eyebrows slightly, amused, challenging the man to speak against him, and Gil sighed and moved across the room, placing the comb in the palm of the boy's hand. With a pleased hum, Oz ordered Gilbert to turn around and sit on the floor with his back against the bed, so that he could kneel on the bed behind him and work. "We'll just keep brushing it straight until it dries," he explained, reaching forward and holding the sides of his servant's damp head, pulling and forcing the man to lean backwards so that his shoulder blades touched the bed, "alright?"

"You don't have to do this…" Gilbert muttered, and though Oz could not see his face, he knew the young man was blushing simply by the uncomfortable tone in his voice.

"Of course I do, I'm bored!" Oz exclaimed, chuckling when Gilbert's head moved back in an obvious eye-rolling motion. _"This won't take long; his hair dries pretty fast,"_ Oz thought to himself, reaching forward and combing his fingers through his servants hair quickly in order to remove the worst of the tangles before placing his left hand against the side of the man's head and using the other to start combing Gil's hair on the right side. He really wasn't sure why he had offered to do this; the idea had just popped to mind, and in his current mental state (that being very, _very_ bored) it had seemed like a fun way to pass a few minutes. He watched as the comb pulled the man's locks straight, only to have them bounce back into shape the moment he reached the end. Humming thoughtfully, he continued to brush the man's hair slowly, certain that if he just kept doing it, Gil's seaweed-head would eventually obey his silent commands and stay straight.

Gilbert was completely silent, frozen in place by his master's soft touch and an uncomfortable fluttering sensation in his stomach.

He'd never had someone brush his hair before… Except for Missus Kate on one occasion, when visitors were arriving and Oz had insisted his servant be by his side to greet them. She racked a fine comb through his tangled hair, tearing half of it loose (or at least, that's what it felt like to Gil), before ordering him to wipe away tears of pain and sending him on his way. Since then, he hadn't let a single person near his hair save to trim the ends, and even at that he often did it himself.

But this… this was nothing like Missus Kate's torture. His initial nervousness appeared to melt away, his pounding heart slowing to its normal pace. Gilbert closed his eyes and tried not to release the contented sigh swelling up in his chest, withholding the fluttering sensation that alighted within as his master's fingers worked in unison with the hair brush, lightly gliding through damp strands of dark hair and gently brushing against his head. It wasn't exactly like a massage, but it certainly was relaxing… Oz's hands were surprisingly gentle as they worked, brushing lightly against his temple as the boy pulled a few strands of hair back, an action that caused Gil to tilt his head back and sigh without realizing it. This was… really nice…

Oz had to resist the urge to chuckle at his servant's response to his touch, slightly surprised how quickly the man appeared to relax. _"I wonder…"_ Oz pondered, silently setting the brush down on the bed by his side, before moving his hands up to slowly finger-comb his servant's hair. He added a little pressure, pressing his fingertips to the man's scalp, and was pleasantly surprised to see Gilbert's entire body unwind, normally tense muscles relaxing and shoulders lowering, unconsciously leaning into the blonde's touch and humming softly.

The sound caught Oz by surprise. _"Wow, is this some sort of fetish of his or something?"_ He pondered, blushing slightly when he paused to actually consider what had just passed through his mind (even if it had been in jest). Gil really did seem to like it, allowing his shoulders to rest against Oz's knees as the young noble continued to lightly massage his servant's head with his fingertips while simultaneously brushing though strands of already curling hair.

Well, whatever the reason for it, Oz could not remember the last time his servant had been so very… very… _vulnerable_.

The man was putty in his hands, completely at his mercy; if he'd known it was this easy, he would have done it years ago! This was the perfect opportunity to do something, _anything_, to terrify the man senseless for the rest of the day. He was so relaxed now that his shocked reaction would be at least twice as entertaining as it usually was! All he had to do was lean down and whisper a quiet 'meow' in his ear, or call him a pervert for his clear enjoyment of such a simple act, or make some sort of suggestive comment to send the man into a spluttering, blushing mess that would be on edge for the rest of the day as a result of his humiliation, making him easier to tease than ever. It would be so much fun!

Oz knew this… and yet he made no attempt to enact any of the multitude of plans that rapidly formed in his prank-loving mind. There was something about the way Gilbert was acting that made him stop, something about the way he _allowed_ himself to relax round Oz. It was such a simple situation, and yet it felt like something special, perhaps because this was the first time since he had returned from the Abyss that the young Vassalius had seen his friend really let his guard down.

He trusted Oz, and though the boy was often quite pleased to abuse the man's blind faith for his own amusement, now was not one of those times.

"_Stupid_," Oz thought,_ "ruining my fun without realizing it."_

Gilbert made no response, his eyes still closed, his breathing relaxed and his entire body lax against the edge of the bed and Oz's knees. The young blonde smiled, running his fingers down through the man's hair slowly, brushing lightly against his ears and causing his body to tense slightly at the ticklish sensation. He made sure to avoid them after that.

"Hmm, it's no use Gil," Oz said after a few minutes, smiling down at the top of the man's head as he continued to run his fingers through his friend's near-dry hair, "it seems your hair refuses to look like anything but seaweed."

"Mmm…" Gilbert nodded in silent agreement, though it was clear he was not hearing a word his master was saying.

"Well, I suppose Gil wouldn't be Gil without it."

"Mmm…" another nod.

"I mean, a useless person could have nothing but useless hair, right?"

"Mmm hmm…" Gilbert took a deep breath and released a heavy, contented sigh, "Yeah…"

"Do you even know what you're agreeing to anymore?" Oz said in a quiet tone, grinning down at his servant as he stopped the movement of his hands and, instead, placed his palms gently against either side of his servant's head. "Giiil~?"

At the sound of his name being called softly, Gilbert leaned his head back and opened his eyes lazily, looking up at his master with a tired but questioning gaze. "Yes?" he muttered quietly, his mind still lulled, enjoying the warmth of his master's hands against his head, pressing lightly over his ears and making him feel overall warm and… safe… As if the act alone could keep away all the bad thoughts and feelings that often raced around inside his mind. His master looked down at him with curiosity in his shining emerald irises. _"He really has nice eyes…"_

Oz's gaze remained on his servant, studying those golden eyes he had looked into so very often, and yet somehow feeling that this was both the first and thousandth time he'd done so. Had they always been so bright? Had they always had that little tint of brown within? They reminded him of chocolate and honey, something he had never considered before. They were… Gilbert blinked, a little realization returning to his once-tired gaze, and Oz felt his heart leap.

His… heart… _what_?

"Oz?"

He could tell that Gilbert was still relatively relaxed, but the anxiety that had constrained his form mere minutes ago was slowly snaking its way around his limbs once again, and the boy knew that Gil's entire body, like a trap, was ready to tense and shut tightly in the flash of a second. And so, despite his own racing heart, despite his own questions and curiousity about the reasons his body had responded so suddenly to his servant's gaze, he smiled and ran his thumbs lightly against the man's temples, trying to relax him. "Nothing…" he said, "I was just thinking this is nice, just the two of us."

And it was… they never did have time for just each other anymore. There was always someone else, or somewhere to be, something to do…

Gilbert's face reddened somewhat, his golden eyes blinking up at Oz for a moment before glancing sideways awkwardly, unable to pull away because of the hands on his head. After a moment, he made a soft sound of affirmation, his eyes suddenly shut tight and his face burning from an embarrassment of unknown original. It made the young noble chuckle softly, the patter of his heart fluttering within his chest, resounding in his ears, warming his face.

It was uncomfortable... but it was a good kind of uncomfortable. Oz didn't really know how to describe it, and had mixed feelings about those strange emotions that appeared to have been unlocked by his servants golden gaze.

They sat together in silence for a few more minutes, those few peaceful minutes before they would be summoned for dinner, and they would have to leave this little bubble of pleasant warmth that appeared to have surrounded them.

Until then, Gilbert closed his eyes, his heart elated, his body alive with curiosity, with hope, with all sorts of emotions that erupted as he pondered the meaning behind the look he had seen in his master's steady gaze, behind the gentle caresses of fingers that he felt despite the clear abandonment of their initial task.

And Oz simply watched, enjoying the simple pleasure of being close to someone without feeling in the least bit uncomfortable. He watched Gilbert's face, and nothing more.

His mind thought of summer days… of childish dreams and impossible promises… ones of loyalty, ones of devotion, ones of endless servitude and friendship…

An impossible notion…

Gilbert's eyes opened and stared up at the pondering boy, who took a moment to notice his gaze. Silently, the dark-haired main reached up, placing his right palm against the side of Oz's head, and smiled. Oz restrained the sudden swell of emotion within, returning his servant's smile with one of his own, bright and genuine.

For he felt it… Despite his momentary doubt, he knew it was there, in that tender touch, in that loving smile…

He knew that, in Gilbert…

In no one else but Gilbert…

There was a promise of Forever…

**O-O-O**

**The End**

**O-O-O**


End file.
